GPS units overtaking road maps

Q: I have been looking for a New Jersey highway map to replace my Christie Whitman model, which is showing its age. New Jersey has no welcome stations that I know of in our region, but at a rest stop on the Jersey Turnpike recently, the only map of the Garden State was on sale for $4.95, which I purchased. It is printed on a poor quality paper, and has already ripped, among other quality-control problems. Are free Jersey maps for tourists an item of the past, and is Pennsylvania next? I have tried to replace my maps every four years to keep up with road improvements. Now I wonder if I should hoard.

— Nicholas Butterfield, Allentown, 2007

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Q: I experienced car trouble on the way home from a recent visit to my son in a Baltimore suburb. A mechanic advised that I might have a head-gasket problem he could not immediately repair, and suggested I return to Bethlehem via secondary roads so I quickly could find a service station if the problem worsened. I visited numerous locations — gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets — and not a map to be found. There were no bookstores in the area. Luckily I made it back to Bethlehem without incident, but why no maps? Best guess: GPS.

— Stephen Antalics Jr., Bethlehem, last week

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A: New Jersey road maps are still available, Nicholas. The state will send you one in the mail, without charge, and you can place your order — big surprise — through the Internet.

I knew that GPS units had hit the fast lane in the last decade or so — even the old-model Warrior has one — but it hadn't occurred to me that these convenient electronic contraptions might be overtaking traditional wood-pulp road maps.

Not only is that happening, according to a map-industry official, but more recently, the surge in smartphones has tapped the brakes a bit on GPS sales. More on that a bit farther down the road.

The geographic positioning satellite devices are wonderful contraptions (though not yet without glitches, and they take some getting used to), but I still appreciate the security of knowing I have a paper map or three in the glove box, just in case.

It's not unlike my spare-tire experience: I never used the "doughnut" spare on my 1993 Honda Accord during the 18 years I owned the car, yet when I bought a Fiat 500 several years ago, I insisted on paying $100 extra for a spare. The standard "spare tire" on some cars today consists of a canister that injects air and some kind of goo pumped into the flat, usually (but not always) repairing it, hopefully long enough to limp to a service station. I prefer the peace of mind of knowing an actual spare is there if I need it.

Same with the paper map. Computerized devices have been known to develop flats of their own, always at the most inopportune times. Or in your case, Stephen, you needed a Maryland map because you weren't sure how to reprogram your GPS for the back-road route you unexpectedly preferred.

New Jersey Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Greeley said map orders can be placed at the state's DOT or tourism sites. In fact, a number of publications are offered, including the official 158-page 2014 New Jersey Travel Guide. You can get state visitors guides targeted to African-American, Asian or Latino travelers (the latter in English or Spanish versions), as well as publications for visitors interested in history, nature, or the state's historic lighthouses, among other topics. Greeley wasn't sure if the road maps are available at rest stops.

Electronic versions of these publications can be downloaded from the Jersey sites. Motorists with properly equipped smart phones can access these maps from their vehicles (but please don't do so while driving; if you're alone in the car, find a safe place to stop).

PennDOT offers the same free-by-mail delivery service for the state's official highway maps, which are also available at rest stops. About 1.1 million paper maps have been distributed annually over the past five years, according to spokeswoman Erin Waters-Trasatt — an astonishing number that would seem to indicate maps are traveling on a firmer road surface than I'd imagined.

But that's not the case for retail sales of maps, according to Jerry Killian, president of Kappa Map Group, which offers five brands of maps and is based in Blue Bell, Montgomery County. Map sales have been heading downhill.

"Maps, like all published products, are on the decline because people are using electronic equipment," Killian said. "More important than GPS now is the GPS on the [smart] phones." Sales of separate GPS units, like the one I attach to my windshield using a suction-cup device, already are slowing, Killian said, "because the phones are becoming more user-friendly and the screens are getting bigger."